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Thursday, May 19, 2011

Time for Damage Control in NFL

The NFL's lockout is in it's 69th day and by all accounts things are progressing. Very, very slowly. Both sides believe there will eventually be a resolution but right now both sides are also standing pat. The possibility remains that there will be parts of the season missed. But does it matter?

It's always been a possibility that pre-season is missed. That seems to be the most despised part of the NFL anyway. The false promises of football action without the fun of seeing your favorite players? Just watch college football, that's already started. Not the biggest loss, right?

Roger Goodell

If the NFL should miss out on training camp and pre-season what does that do to quality of play in the NFL? Slow players, rusty moves, timing off. It'd be a low quality product that is put on the field. It would make the football put on display on Saturdays nearly superior.

The common conception of the lock out is the rich wanting to get richer and being too greedy for their own good. It's an opinion that seems to grow as every day the lockout goes on. Each passing day with more rhetoric from both sides, all of which falls on deaf ears, means potentially more distance from the fans to the players.

If there's a portion of a season missed will it effect the way fans view the NFL? Will they turn off the TV? Will the league be the same? Eventually it will recover from any disenchantment brought about by billionaires fighting with millionaires, but to what extent?

The only sure fire way to make sure that answer is never found out is for both sides to suck it up and figure it out as soon as possible. Was it really so bad the way it was? If it was that bad, would it be worse than not putting the best product on the field?

The NFL can stand to miss time. It's a large entity that has never been more popular. The owners and players can stand on high with their arms flexed as they try to gain upper ground in something that effects the way they make their livelihood and that's their right on both ends. However, the longer they maintain the ground the greater the disinterest grows from the public and the harder it will be to get back to the top of that mountain. The sooner this is resolved for the NFL the better.
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